Fresh meat into the fray

[alaric99x]

Well, most had a decidedly unpleasant experience in the Russian camps, if they survived. That uncle was the only veteran in my family that I had a chance to speak to directly. I met him last summer, the last time I saw him before that was about 50 years ago. Of course, my father related his experiences, but he succeeded in making it to the US zone, so he never experienced the gulag. The limited information I have about other relatives comes to me indirectly from my mother and father. They told me some stories about how miserable it was for other family members in the camps. What my uncle told me about his experiences in captivity surprised me, I guess he was just very lucky.